Anarcho-Perspective on Detroit is Catching On

Travis Holte sent me this video along with the message, “What? Reason didn’t interview you for this piece???” Travis has an amazing eagle eye for these things, and I shouldn’t promote Reason’s take-offs on my anarcho-Detroit culture since they have never cited me while conducting their imitation of my take on the ground-up, voluntaryist Detroit resurgence that rejects government, but this one is worth mentioning. That is because Michael LaFaive, a Director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, is quoted as saying that, “Accidentally, the city has created an anarchistic culture….”

I know that Mr. LaFaive reads LewRockwell.com because I have corresponded with him. Actually, while I very much like the Mackinac Center and I appreciate LaFaive’s take on mentioning “Detroit” and “anarchistic” in the same sentence, Detroit’s anarchy is not accidental, and it has not been “created” by the city. So I will offer up my version of a correction since I have been covering the positive side of Detroit’s resurgence for about the last four years.

Detroit’s ground-up resurrection has not been created by the city, but rather, it has been enabled by the city because in spite of its seemingly unyielding regulatory environment, as presented by the media and some local businessmen, the government-regulatory complex has been too corrupt, too inept, and too inconsequential to enforce its own ridiculous dictates, for the most part. Hence the ‘end around’ on the part of savvy entrepreneurs to establish a service-for-profit base in the city.

The term “create” denotes intelligent, purposeful design while a more appropriate term, “enabling,” can be defined as allowing or permitting via a serendipitous practice. Also, nothing is “accidental” as entrepreneurs have been very canny in learning to navigate the regulatory waters while taking advantage of the lack of rigorous enforcement of the existing regulatory structure. Detroit’s entrepreneurial storm that is rooted in rejection of the conventional political system is purposeful in that creative human capital actually seeks Detroit out as a place where they can potentially launch and operate innovative entrepreneurial efforts with minimal bureaucratic meddling.

One Response to Anarcho-Perspective on Detroit is Catching On

As a small business owner that just moved across our great country, I would not be interested in moving again, but say I were attracted by the current (lack of) regulatory environment in Detroit. That is, as you explain, despite a crushing level of regulations imposed on small business, the city is impotent in enforcing them because of corruption, lack of funds, etc. But if the city starts to flourish because of the influx of business, would this not increase the tax base to the point where the city would now have the means to start to come in and crack down on the very businesses that brought the city back to life? It’s something I would be concerned about if I were looking to relocate to Detroit.